APUA Under Fire: PM Browne Blasts Public Utility for Delays in Water Production Parts
Prime Minister Gaston Browne has sharply criticised the Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA) over its prolonged failure to procure essential parts needed for water production, warning that continued inefficiency could lead to the utility being privatised.
Speaking on his Browne and Browne radio programme, the Prime Minister revealed that APUA had gone 11 months without securing necessary components, resulting in disruptions to the country’s water supply.
“For 11 months they have been unable to purchase certain service parts,” Browne said. “And you’re talking about a million EC dollars. You’re trying to convince this Cabinet that you couldn’t find a million dollars to purchase parts for the plant?”
The Prime Minister said the government had now intervened by approving the funds directly but expressed disappointment that APUA had not acted sooner.
“APUA has a half a billion dollars in assets. You collect hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and you’re telling me you couldn’t raise one million?” he asked.
Browne questioned whether APUA had explored basic financing options, such as approaching a commercial bank or cutting other expenses temporarily to prioritise essential operations.
“If you don’t want to touch your reserves, you can’t tell me you don’t have a relationship with a bank to say, ‘Run me an overdraft until I get the million dollars,’” he said. “That’s what I used to do when I ran my own business.”
He also expressed frustration over what he described as a broader culture of low performance and inadequate urgency in the public sector.
“If we continue to invest in water production and these guys at APUA continue to underperform, we may have to privatize it,” Browne warned. “Because at this point, excuses are not good enough.”
The Prime Minister said APUA management had been repeatedly instructed to maintain stockpiles of critical components to prevent service disruptions but had failed to follow through.
“We told them years ago: keep the parts in stock. But when I examined their accounts, they’re holding $10 million for contingencies and telling us they don’t have a million for parts. That is the contingency!”
The government recently dispatched 27 Public Works employees to China for training in road construction and plans to do the same for APUA staff to improve technical capacity and efficiency.
Browne said he is determined to hold public bodies accountable and will continue to speak publicly on their performance.
“When you carry the public with you, and they know that the public knows they’re not operating efficiently, that’s when they react,” he said.
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So you have been lying all this time! It seems though, that the only times you are concerned about our water issues are wherever you have plans for General Elections. You will do just about anything to hold on to power because you know what you’ve been doing and passing us everytime. Remember there’s a limit to everything.
I am in trouble with that Russian lady trying to expose my big bank accounts so I have to play the knight in shining armor to the dotish Antiguan public to get re-elected. So let me beat the hell out of APUA, but I will tip toe around the entitlement electricity manager who presides over the destruction of all APUA power plant causing us to buy power from the hadeeds, Elsworth martin is financially good for this deal.
OH LAWD: …CHUCKLE OR BUCKLE…?
***
WELL, HAVE HEARD:
(i) ‘…WATER PRESSURE MAKES WATER GO UP HILL:
(ii) …HIGH WATER PRESSURE, BURST PIPE:and
(iiI) …HARD WORK BREAKS BACK:
***
NOW:
(a) ‘…LIKENED TO SHORTAGE OF WATER, ‘PM’ HAS NO TIME TO WASTE, LIME OR CHUCKLE:
(b) …MELFORD -HEAD ‘…UNDER WATER PRESSURE:
***
(c) …NO DUCKING, HE MUST ‘…BUCKLE.’
***
NOW:
My easy-going: Soft-spoken: and Highly respected friend, ‘…JOHN BRADSHAW,’ seems positionally, in ‘…WATER TROUBLE.’
***
ARCHIE BUCK THEM UP:
Now likened to the song: ‘…ARCHIE BUCK THEM UP,’ it now seems that to ‘…MELLY AND JOHNNY, ‘…PM BROWNIE,’ is about to do something else…?’
***
ALL ‘PM’ SHALL KNOW THAT THERE IS A ‘…FUNCTIONAL MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLE,’ CALLED ‘…COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBLE.’
***
EFFICIENT OR INCOMPETENT, SUCH HAS ALWAYS BEEN THAT WHICH ‘…GOVERNANCE’ IS ALL ABOUT.
***
ADMINKISTRATIVELY:
THOUGH NO MINISTER IS AN ‘…ISLAND OR RULER’ OF OR UNTO HIMSELF,’ EVERY ‘… PARLIAMENTARY NUMBER’ COUNTS.
***
AVOID ‘…TAL-LA-LA’ (Cosmas Marcel: Former Police Superintendent).
***
WHAT THE HELL…!
WELL, MANAGE GOOD.
***
MANAGERIAL PHILOSOPHY:
WHO CANNOT …MANAGE’ OR SEEN NOT ‘…MANAGEABLE,’ THEN ‘DAMAGE.’
***
WALK GOOD.
Gaston Browne, you are going after the Management of APUA. Who is your Cabinet Minister with responsibilities for APUA? Is it the same one responsible for the non- numbered portability. You need to demote him to a backbencher. That is based on lacking in performance. Lazy, Lazy,Lazy, Arse.
gaston browne, you all need to apologize to Ian Lewis and all those A.P.U.A. Employees who you all said was turning off valves.
Oh gad. Are you na hab no shame?
Bradshaw boy, your next to go.
Melford needs a Junior Minister to assist him. And I have stated it before. Appointing John Bradshaw as APUA General Manager was like putting Old Wine in a New Skin. He will not be able to demand the respect of his peers. Sorry to sound like a racist and one that remembers slavery. But the black man worked harder under the whip of his white master. And sadly enough we still suffer from mental slavery. That is why Bladwin Spencer brought in the Canadian Mounties instead of promoting one of our own. It would have been better for the Government to bring a totally fresh Caucasion outsider, prefarably a caucasion retired Water Manager to lead the APUA team. And fire who needs to be fired. Cause they will frustrate you untill the end. And that is really the entire government system. Performance doesn’t matter. You are not hired based on that. And you will keep your job no matter what. Because polticians are weak. They think about themselves. They think about votes. It’s time for Gaston to forget about votes and do what needs to be done. Remove non performing elements from government. Pay them to stay home. It is better that way.
@Less Sometimes people perform better under foreign management because the foreign managers are less emotional and reactive. Locals take everything personally. Worker tells local manager there is a problem. Manager views worker as a threat and proceeds to try to make their life hell. Manager can’t just focus on the task at hand and goals for the organisation in an impartial way. Manager doesn’t like this or that person because they are not the right skin tone or from the right country or not one of the Manager’s boot-lickers (aka “friends”). Worker is just busy working quietly with no time to stroke anyone’s ego. Worker is just trying to solve problems, but Manager’s ego is too fragile. So, workers stop trying to solve problems because they are afraid to jeopardize their job by upsetting management. So, the organization slowly decays and collapses. Local people (managers) need some therapy or traini to help them not see others as a threat but instead as team members. People need to learn not to take things personally when someone else has relevant information, ideas or suggestions to share, otherwise this country will forever stagnate.